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Comment by kixxauth | Hacker News Reader

I've considered myself an optimist for most of my life. But, starting in about 2014 I started to find myself being more of a pessimist more of the time. It got to the point in 2020 where I found myself pessimistic about pretty much everything.

You know what I noticed? It takes a lot of energy to be pessimistic and pissed off all the time.

So, instead, I'm trying to remain focused and motivated by the wrongs I would like to see made right. I'm picking problems which I think I can positively impact. And while I'm not optimistic about much of it, neither am I succumbing to a pessimistic view which leads to not taking action.

It's not binary.

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"People mistakenly see optimism as an excuse for inaction. They think that it’s pessimism that drives change, and optimism that keeps us where we are. The opposite is true. Optimists are the ones that move us forward"

Exactly, it's not binary. Some pessimism is healthy, "the ones that speak truth to power". However, complaining without offering solutions is pointless. Good on you for following up, and trying to be optimistic about some of your solutions.

Can I ask you how old you were when that happened. I think a lot of that happen organically for everyone, it just happened to you in 2014. I'd guess 25-30y old ?

Yeah, I was in the 30 -35 range in 2014. I think age had something to do with it.

But I think 2014 was when it started to become apparent that the idealist global mixing and digital revolution it was tied to, something I had pinned my optimism on, might be going in a more evil direction.

Paul Graham wrote about this, that we need to understand our current period in the context of a much longer historical timeline http://www.paulgraham.com/re.html

I'm a bit younger than you (I was in my mid 20s during this time) and I would agree that about then is when I started to be like 'wait a minute'. I'd had small crises of optimism in the 90s and 00s as a kid where things weren't adding up, but I dismissed them because surely the adults knew what they were doing.

2013 was the year I'd pinpoint where my optimism ended. I was in grad school studying filter bubbles and what we'd eventually start calling 'misinformation' and 'disinformation' and discovering Eli Pariser coined the concept and then used it to create a corporation using that to influence people into thinking certain ideas were important was a major black pill moment, as was Tristan Harris's Google memo.

A lot of the rot was in evidence before then, but that was the year when I couldn't pretend not to see it anymore.

I'd say age has a lot to do with it in that my renewed sense of optimism is very tied into being more comfortable in my own agency, and that comfort only came into being because I saw the generation behind me and that updated my brain. "Oh, I'm not the 7 year old in the room of adults anymore. I'm the adult now. Interesting."

I've turned to optimism this year as well, after being a lifelong pessimist. I realised the same - it takes up way too much energy and I end up doing nothing.

Either not stressing all the time will make me do more, or at least I'll feel better. That's still a win for my mental health if nothing else. I'm still well aware of all the problems around me, and try to help where I can, but beyond that point I maintain some personal distance.

What has fundamentally changed since 2014? Or is it the lack of change? Or did you just get older?

Good question. That made me think about it. Why did it start to change for me in 2014?

Posted my initial thoughts above

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